Reeling in the Spurs: Swansea 0 - 2 Arsenal

Arsenal grabbed 3 points in a way they could have easily lost 3 points at the beginning of the season; lots of fluff and no stuff while the opposition gets one goal to deflate the fans and another one in injury time to set off boos. Thankfully the opposite happened, and with Spurs suffering from a post yay-we-beat-Arsenal hangover, the gap is down to 4 points with a game in hand against relegation-threatened Reading.

How the teams lined up
Both Swansea and Arsenal lined up in 4-2-3-1 and mostly cancelled each other out, man for man. Both teams are also very comfortable on the ball and very tactically aware, so it was going to come down to which team was going to want the game more or moments of individual brilliance, or egregious stupidity.

How play shaped up
Swansea began the better of the two teams. Arsenal was slow to get on the ball and had few ideas after they did get on it. Swansea meanwhile pressed intelligently and fashioned a couple of good chances that they ended up spurning. A particular pleasing pattern of passes in midfield sent the right back Rangel racing onto Ki’s through ball; he sliced the shot wide under pressure from Koscielny who was aware of the danger and busted a gut to get back. Likewise, Dyer made a right nuisance of himself down the right, his lack of end product letting him down. Britton or Ki often dropped deep to pick up the ball since Cazorla and Giroud were pressing the center backs but disjoined pressing from the Arsenal midfield allowed the two Swansea midfielders to pick out percentage passes, and Swansea were able to build decent attacks as a result. However, Michu frequently dropped into midfield and robbed Swansea of a focal point upfront which is so important in a 4-2-3-1. Arsenal built few attacks and was dependent on individuals creating chances during the first half. Oxlade-Chamberlain beat his man on the left and crashed his shot against the crossbar, and did it again about 30 yards out in the center after a Cazorla dribble.
Arsenal was a little more purposeful in the second half, and this writer thought the pressing was more in tandem and intelligent than the first half. Swansea seemed to sit back for some reason which gave Arteta and Diaby leeway to attempt more adventurous passes forward into Cazorla and the wings. Arsenal recorded the majority of their shots in the second half, and both their goals too. The first goal was down to a Cazorla dribble that drew 3 or 4 defenders to him leaving space for Giroud (to mess up his first touch) that gave the ball away to Monreal to slot it in. A few minutes ago though, Wenger had yanked Diably and Oxlade-Chamberlain and sent on Ramsey and Gervinho. Diaby had had a ordinary game while The Ox had exerted himself much, and the introduction of fresh legs gave Arsenal attacks much needed impetus. Ramsey was energetic in midfield and Gervinho made things happen on his flank and kept Swansea occupied with defense. The substitutes contributed directly to the second goal, Ramsey providing and Gervinho finished with atypical composure past Vorm.

Final thoughts
Swansea made more passes than Arsenal, 651 to 492, yet lacked finishing efficiency and passing penetration on the day, and were also unlucky that Michu fired wide twice. Arsenal’s play in the second half was more purposeful; they attacked and pressed as a unit, and also had players who could create moments of difference. Cazorla’s breathtaking control and dribbling, Jenkinson’s energy and composure (save one wonky pass), Koscielny’s last ditch tackling, and also to mention Wenger’s correct substitutions were crucial on the day.Michu was definitely off colour, dropped too deep, and Swansea were unable to fashion any crucial chances; Fabianski didn’t have a save to make. Interestingly, there was a moment when Giroud dropped into midfield and Arteta screamed at him to get back up front--emphasizing the importance of the focal point upfront in the 4-2-3-1. Diaby was outplayed by Ki initially in the battle of the “ball carriers”, but came back stronger in the second half. Arsenal's purposeful pressing and passing, combined with the quality of Cazorla, made the difference in the end.

Ratings

Fabianski: Made a smart save from an offside Michu effort. 7/10
Jenkinson: Save one silly moment, was solid and willingly got up and down the flank. 8/10
Mertesacker: Much more calm and composed than recent games. 7/10
Koscielny: Made a few important blocks and interceptions, and looked very confident. 7/10
Monreal: Thank you for the goal, senor. 8/10
Arteta: Was back to his usual metronomic self, good communication on the day. 7/10
Diaby: Started badly, made a couple of fancy dribbles, but a day to forget overall. 6/10
Oxlade-Chamberlain: Energetic display, and unlucky to have not scored. 7/10
Cazorla: Made all the plays and proved to be the difference in the end. 9/10
Walcott: Not much of an attacking threat, brownie points for defensive effort. 6/10
Giroud: Put himself about and won fair share of aerial duels. 6/10


Substitutes:
Gervinho: First goal since October and injected much needed pace at crucial point in the game. 7/10
Ramsey: Willing as always and looked confident on the ball during time on the pitch. 7/10
Gibbs: Not enough time to get on the ball

Post Spurs: A humbling lesson in Smash & Grab

A few days ago Brendan Rodgers outlined his vision for the summer transfer window and how he plans to reinforce the defensive lineup post Carragher’s retirement from the game. His assessment of Liverpool’s defensive frailties could not have come at a better time for the Saints who convincingly beat the Red 3 -1 at St. Mary’s.  The game started off with an energetic Southampton side capitalizing on a sluggish Martin Skrtel whose lack of match practice was more than evident.

Right from the get –go Southampton played a high back four and punted the ball towards the big center forward who played Liverpool’s second choice center back pairing admirably.  Joe Allen’s selection in midfield ahead of Lucas was baffling especially considering his troubled shoulder, Southampton exploited Allen’s lack of defensive positional awareness by operating the gap between Liverpool’s defense and midfield.

Not much could be said about Liverpool’s attack as chances seemed limited and mostly rushed, Suarez & Coutinho who have thrived on patient passing and buildup play were hardly given the time to dominate the game.  Sturridge and Coutinho both had chances to reduce the advantage but failed to capitalize as Rodrigrez pulled a Gareth Bale to run through Liverpool’s midfield and defense to seal the deal.

Great teams are characterized by their ability to squeeze results out of bad positions, their ability to find goals in  times of need differentiate them from teams in the middle of the table. Rodger’s men need to find this, the defensive solidity that was characteristic of Steve Clarke’s reign at the back seemed distant as Liverpool continued to concede cheap goals. With Arsenal and Everton registering wins the fight to a Champions League spot almost 

seems over for Rodgers. Liverpool desperately need a central 

midfield player who can break attack as well as pass forward 

with confidence. Lucas unfortunately does one job well while 

tries hard at the other, it is about time Rodgers paid attention 

to the problem. 

Swansea v Arsenal..Ambition v Survival

After Arsenal’s biggest win in a losing cause this season, a fatigued and injured team travels to the dreaded Liberty Stadium. The Welsh side has been more than exemplary this season notching up impressive wins against Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle. Though affairs against Swansea tend to be low scoring, the extremely levered structure of their team always makes for smart football. Arsenal should take some pride in their effort at Allianz stadium where they are the first visiting team this season to record a victory. With some renewed confidence in their tired legs, hope spring gushes an evening of fantastic football.

Arsenal played a perceivably weakened side against the mighty Germans and everyone could see they played their hearts out. With the Arsenal captain, the starting keeper, “England’s savior” (as quoted by a few) and the ever injured yet talented Frenchman watching the game from afar, questions have been risen about the worth of the stars on the roster. Gibbs and Jenkinson were solid in defense, though Gibbs will again be missing against Swansea. Jenkinson will be eager to fill in Sagna’s able shoes, especially after the harrowing 20 seconds of defending against Michu last year. The offense came under some flak against BM in their inability to string enough attacking moves during the middle of the game as the Munich midfield were successful in breaking Giroud and co’s rhythm in the final third. No one knows this secret better than Swansea and I’m betting they will fancy their chances in a midfield sans Wilshire and Diaby.

Swansea on the other hand has been in a slight rollercoaster. West Ham loss, QPR win, Liverpool loss (Thrashing), Bradford win (another trashing), Newcastle win and most recently a WBA loss. Looking at Swansea’s form, no one can guess which Swansea will turn up. Leon Britton is set to return from a thigh injury and he should bring some solidarity to the midfield which was found lacking at WBA. Swansea was uncharacteristically tame last game with just 2 shots on goal while keeping 56% of the possession. Michu’s creative prowess has also taken a bit of a slump with a number of missed chances. However, Luke Moore has stepped up and scored in the last two games.

Both sides are bringing their inconsistent form into this game. To attempt to predict the result would be the epitome of foolishness. In such cases, the safer bet is to place the W in the home side’s column. Keeping in mind that the Arsenal side would be tired, and will find it hard to field fresh 11 players of quality, I’d give Swansea the edge to pull off a 2-1. Though, giving ol Arsene’s tactics some credit, one could conceive a Munich-sqe defensive performance and a keeper to be on 10 redbulls to stop anything the Mr. slick guzman or the smart moving offensive line up can muster. 

My final prediction:

60% Swansea 2 – 1 Arsenal

40% Swansea 1 – 1 Arsenal

And now to 8.30, for the first of the ten cup finals for Arsenal.

No hattrick this time: Spurs 2 - Arsenal 1

 My apologies for the super late report; I am now sufficiently not angry to be trusted with an expensive computer for typing up this post. I was hoping to use the format of my previous as a template for future match reports but just for today—also since I have a lot on my chest that I need to spill out—I am going to deviate a bit.

Don’t blame the high line

Arsenal played a very high line and pressed the Spurs midfield, which led to a very open first half since Spurs played a fairly high line as well. The first half was full of very exciting end-to-end football—the score could have easily been 3-4 according to this writer, in Arsenal’s favour of course. Neither Vermaelen nor Dawson seemed to be in control of their defences, a large part of that down to the frenzied pressing and counterattacking of both teams. Arsenal, in truth, did do better—until the first goal was scored—because of their asymmetrical 4-2-3-1, with Cazorla playing inside on the left. Arsenal’s high tempo pressing got them more possession, and seeing how they dominated the midfield, it seemed that it would only be a matter of time before they scored. It wasn’t to be though; Cazorla and Wilshere played well but not as well as earlier games, and the decisive killer pass failed to materialize despite the team weaving pretty patterns in midfield. Spurs looked dangerous on the break; they were constantly looking to involve Bale and Lennon. Call me whatever but their gameplan seemed to revolve totally around Arsenal playing badly and losing the ball. I kept thinking during the match, “Hah, what a crap plan” until they scored, twice.

Image credit www.eplindex.com

Now there has been a lot of scapegoating over the past week, with Vermaelen and Mertesacker coming in for the most stick. I beg to differ because when the center backs are playing a high line to help the midfield dominate possession and create chances, I wouldn’t blame them unless it was a high scoring game and individual defensive mistakes decided the game. For both goals, Spurs were on a fast counterattack with two of the speediest players in the league, Bale and Lennon. For the first, Adebayor made a brilliant run to take Mertesacker out of the play (he ended up playing Bale onside), Vermaelan let him go and had a microsecond to decide if he had to turn and chase Bale—arguably second fastest player on the pitch—or intercept the ball, which he tried to. Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta, who was tasked with picking up Bale in the Arsenal half, can be seen ambling towards the pass instead of busting a gut to get to Bale. Or Jenkinson, who should have been closing down Sigurdsson, who had ample time to pick out a pass in the absence of any pressure. The second goal too came down Arsenal’s right, Jenkinson who backed off apparently having been terrorized by the sight of Scott Parker ambling at 10 km/hr with a football at his feet. By my observation, Parker had about 7 seconds—7 seconds!—to pick out a pass. Admittedly, Monreal could have done have better with tracking Lennon, or calling for help.

In the end, Spurs gambled on Arsenal playing badly and hit pay dirt, while Arsenal gambled on dominating possession and scoring more than Spurs, which didn’t quite pay off. Wilshere and Cazorla had quiet games while Giroud astounded this writer with his lethargy and sulkiness. Giroud’s lack of pace is obvious but one would expect him to make up for it by thinking harder and anticipating situations better, but when you see him realize half a second late that a through ball is coming his way, the act of an expensive phone being chucked at an expensive TV can be forgiven.

Mertesacker did say after the game that the players had been tired and needed a break, which would explain the midfield losing steam faster than usual. So Arsenal having to have played this weekend is probably a good thing; with a good long break hopefully the players will be fresh and ready for the greater challenges ahead. It seems unlikely that Spurs will mess up again while Chelsea, well, Rafa is definitely staying until the end of season so there’s a fair chance that they might. Lets make things easy for ourselves by winning the Champions League!

Arsenal ratings

Szczesny: 5/10

Jenkinson: 4/10

Mertesacker: 4/10

Vermaelen: 4/10

Monreal: 4/10

Ramsey: 5/10

Arteta: 5/10

Wilshere: 5/10

Cazorla: 6.5/10 (for making a concerted effort to turn the game around in the 2nd half)

Walcott: 4/10

Giroud: 3.5/10 (for acting like a spoilt little princess in the 2nd half)

Substitutes

Rosicky: 6/10

Podolski: 5/10

Suarez and Coutinho dance past Wigan's defense: Liverpool 4 - Wigan 0

Liverpool owners must have congratulated themselves on picking Rodgers over Martinez to lead the revolution at Anfield. A year ago Liverpool's search to find a new manager took them to Martinez; Henry and Martinez held talks in sunny Miami before the job was finally offered to Rodgers - "The First Choice".

The night opened with the excellent Countinho setting up Downing for a header from close range which he gladly converted. Liverpool quickly picked up where they left off when they met Swansea a few weeks ago; short passing, slick movement and excellent finishing. However, the victory spoke volumes about Wigan's defensive problems than it did about Liverpool's passing abilities. Wigan's back four looked like a championship team with no coordination between the center backs, squabbles and lack of communication. Something which was exemplified when Suarez picked up a pass from Johnson by running between the Center backs. Basics like communication between the defense and keeper, allowing high balls to bounce and marking were lost.  Up the field Kone gave a torrid time to the old warhorse Carragher, clearly faster than the defender - the forward made a nuisance of himself whenever he went up against Carragher. Inspite of Liverpool and Suarez's absolute domination of possession, Wigan managed to bring out three excellent saves from Reina who had an excellent night. 

The sequence of Liverpool's last six victories is 4-0, 3-0, 3-0, 5-0, 5-0 and 4-0; a strong indication that Liverpool has moved away from the stalemate draws from the reigns of Rafa, Hodgson and Daglish. They have now become a free scoring team not afraid to take on lower opposition. However, Liverpool has NOT won any games against the top 6. They have drawn against the Machester Clubs and Arsenal but failed at White hart lane and Emirates. This just shows that against a good opposition there will not be slack defending or the opportunity for Reina to make as many saves. Against the good teams; Liverpool has been guilty of dominating possession while having lapses in concentration. Something that can be fixed with a few defensive signings in the summer - " Men at the back" - Are you watching closely Mr. Rodgers?